Shopify updates Analytics session measurement starting September 21, 2026
Starting September 21, 2026, Shopify changes how it counts sessions in Analytics so that the default view focuses on human visitors and treats bot traffic more consistently. As a result, session‑based metrics such as conversion rate and bounce rate may appear different even if actual shopper behavior has not changed.
The update applies to stores that have the Human or bot filter enabled, filtering out non‑human traffic before calculating sessions. It also preserves shopper journeys that lack a standard pageview, ensuring those visits remain counted as sessions. Metrics that could shift include sessions, conversion rate, add‑to‑cart rate, reached checkout rate, checkout conversion rate, bounce rate, pageviews per session, online store visitors and searches, while orders, sales and customer totals stay unchanged.
What we know
Update starts September 21, 2026.
Session-based metrics might look different after the update.
List of session-based metrics that might look different includes sessions, conversion rate, add-to-cart rate, reached checkout rate, checkout conversion rate, bounce rate, pageviews per session, online store visitors, searches.
Orders, sales, and customer counts aren't changed by this session measurement update.
When comparing reports before and after September 21, 2026, treat this as a new baseline for session-based metrics.